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THE 

FAULTS  OF  SPEEGtj::-..; 

A  Self-Corrector  ••.•  A :.. :  :*  *•. 

AND 

TEACHERS'  MANUAL 

BY 

ALEXANDER  MELVILLE  BELL 


SIXTH'  EDITION 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
THE  VOLTA  BUREAU,  1601  35TH  ST.  N.  W. 

1916 


Copyright,  1898,  by 
THE  VOLTA  BUREAU 


AlyRXANDER  MELVII.LK  BEUv,  F.E.I.S..    F.R   S.S  A.,  F.A.A.A.S. 


PREFACE. 


HIS  little  work  supplies  a  want  of  which 
I  have  been  frequently  reminded  dur- 
ing my  professional  career.  In  revising  the 
''Principles  of  Speech  and  Vocal  Physiology", 
for  a  new  edition  in  1863,  a  section  of  the 
book  was  devoted  to  the  "Cure  of  Stammer- 
ing;" and  in  another  section  —  the  ''Diction- 
ary^ of  Sounds" — reference  was  made  under 
each  consonant  to  the  defects  to  which  the 
element  was  subject :  but  a  complete  separate 
treatise  on  the  Faults  of  Speech  has  not 
hitherto  been  pubUshed. 

I  am  glad  to  be  able  still,  to  add  to  my 
professional  publications  one  which,  I  hope 
and  believe,  will  prove  not  the  least  useful  of 
the  whole.  A.  M.  B. 

TuTELO  Heights, 
Brantford,  Ont.,  April,  1880. 


CONTENTS. 


Ele^ientaky  Sounds 1 


Corrective  Training  . 

Organic  Defects     .        .        .        , 
Impediments  of  Speech 

Nervousness  .        .        .        .        , 

Stammering  a  Habit  . 

Systems  of  Cure    .         .        .        , 

Self-effort  Necessary 

Temporary  Relief  ... 
The  Cure  of  Sta:mmering 

The  Breath. — Atmospheric  Pressure ;  Air 
Channels ;  Inspiration  and  Expira- 
tion   

The  Voice.  —  Exercise,  Continuity  of 
Voice;  How  to  learn  Elementary 
Sounds ;  Difficult  Elements 

Organic  Regulation. — The  Mouth;  The 
Jaw;  The  Head;  Spasmodic  Ac- 
tions        .... 

Self-Observation 27 

Capricious  Difficulties        ....       28 

Aggravants  of  Difficulty        .        .        .        .20 


5 

7 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
17 


17-18 


19-23 


24-26 


672799 


vi  CONTENTS, 

Minor  Faults 30 

Nasalizing 30 

The  Aspirate 32 

Vocal  Consonants 33 

Thickness  of  Speech 34 

Oratorical  Faults 35 

Conversational  Slurring  .         .         .         .35 

Sustained  Voice 36 

Mai-Respiration 38 

Organic  Substitutions 40 

Postscript 61 

Appendix .67 


THE   FAULTS   OF   SPfefiCH. 


ELEMENTARY    SOUNDS. 

HE  processes  of  speech  are  mechanical, 
but  they  are  intimately  associated  with 
mental  operations.  Sometimes  the  mechanical 
processes  are  mismanaged,  and  sometimes  the 
intellectual  associations  are  imperfect.  In  the 
latter  case,  expression  is  tardy  or  inexact ;  in 
the  former,  utterance  is  interrupted  or  vitiated. 
The  two  kinds  of  defect  may  be  combined,  or 
either  ma}'  exist  separatel}'.  Stammering, 
stuttering,  etc.  are,  for  the  most  part,  mechan- 
ical defects;  drawling,  hemming,  and — uh  — 
uh  —  hesitation  are,  in  great  measure,  faults  of 
the  intellect.  The  observations  in  this  work 
will  have  reference  to  failures  in  the  mechan- 
ical execution  of  speech. 


2  rilE   FAULTS    OF   SFEECIL 

The  fact  that  "everybody  speaks/'  and  3'et 
npt  one  person  in  a  thousand  knows  how  he 
spf^^k^;  and  that  children  talk  the  language 
oOf  their  nurses — be  it  English,  French,  Ger- 
.maDjc Italian,  Indian,  Patois,  or  whatever  else 
— proves  that  language  is  normally  acquired 
by  imitation.  A  child  imitates  with  more  or 
less  accuracy  the  general  effect  of  the  sounds 
it  hears ;  but,  in  doing  so,  makes  many  sub- 
stitutions of  easier  for  more  difficult  actions 
of  the  organs  of  speech.  The  lips  and  the 
forepart  of  the  tongue  are  the  first  of  the  ar- 
ticulating organs  to  be  brought  into  use  ;  and 
"tum,"  "tat"  and  "tate"  in  most  cases  sat- 
isfy the  child's  apprehension  of  the  words 
"come,"  "cat"  and  "cake."  The  action  of 
the  back  of  the  tongue  is  often  not  acquired 
for  years.  Infantile  defects  are  niiwisely  en- 
couraged by  parents,  who — with  the  requisite 
knowledge — might  enable  their  children  to 
pronounce  correctly'  as  soon  as  they  begin  to 
prattle  at  all.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  most  serious  blemishes  and  impediments 
arise  from  parental  neglect — or  rather  ignor- 
ance—  in  this  respect.  When  a  child  says 
"turn"   for  "come,"  and  "tin"  for  "king," 


ELEMENTABY  SOUNDS.  3 

^he  correct  articulation  will  be  induced  almost 
at  the  first  trial  b}'  the  simple  expedient  of 
holding  down  the  forepart  of  the  tongue  with 
the  finger.  The  effort  to  imitate  the  general 
eflTect  will  then  force  the  back  of  the  tongue 
into  action ;  and  in  a  few  da^^s  at  most,  the 
<;hild  will,  without  any  assistance,  form  ^',  g 
and  ng  where  before  it  could  only  utter  ^  d 
and  n. 

The  "shut"  consonants. (p,  t,  k,  b,  d, g)  are 
the  most  easily  acquired,  and  children  conse- 
quently pronounce  p  instead  of  the  more  dif- 
ficult /,  and  t  instead  of  tli,  A  few  minutes 
devoted  to  amusing  exercise  will  conquer  this 
difficulty.  Thus:  tell  the  child  to  bite  his 
lower  lip,  and  blow,  and  he  will  form  a  tol- 
erable /  at  once ;  or  to  bite  his  tongue,  and 
blow,  and  a  passable  th  will  be  the  result. 
The  sounds  of  s  and  sh  are  often  for  a  long 
time  confounded  ;  also  those  of  s  and  th.  The 
sound  of  s  will  be  obtained  from  th  by  drawing 
back — or,  if  assistance  is  needed,  b}^  push- 
ing back  —  the  tip  of  the  tongue  till  it  is  free 
from  the  teeth.  The  teeth  require  to  be  very 
close  for  s,  but  there  will  be  room  to  insert 
the  edge  of  a  paper-cutter  to  play  the  tongue 


4  THE   FAULTS    OF  SPEECH. 

into  position.  The  sound  of  sh  will  be  ob- 
tained from  s  by  drawing  —  or  pushing — back 
the  body  of  the  tongue  till  it  is  free  from  the 
gum.  The  sibilation  of  sh  is  formed  between 
the  middle  of  the  tongue  and  the  palate,  modi 
tied  by  a  degree  of  elevation  of  the  point  oi' 
the  tongue  also :  that  of  s  is  formed  between 
the  point  of  the  tongue  and  the  upper  gum, 
modified  by  a  degree  of  convexity  of  the  mid- 
dle of  the  tongue :  and  that  of  th  is  formed 
between  the  tip  of  the  tongue  and  the  upper 
teeth,  with  the  edges  of  the  tongue  flattened 
against  the  side  teetn  to  obstruct  the  breath 
at  all  points  but  the  tip. 

The  sounds  of  I  and  r  are  generally  the  last 
to  be  mastered  by  a  child.  The  I  resembles 
th  in  having  the  point  of  the  tongue  in  con- 
tact (preferably  with  the  gum) ,  but  the  sides 
of  the  tongue,  instead  of  being  flattened 
against  the  teeth,  are  free  from  lateral  con- 
tact, so  that  the  breath  passes  over  the  sides, 
B  resembles  s  in  having  the  point  of  the 
tongue  raised  to  the  upper  gum,  but  the  mid- 
dle of  the  tongue,  instead  of  being  convex, 
is  depressed  so  that  the  breath  strikes  sharply 
on  the  free  tip  of  the  tongue.     The  sound  of 


CORBECTIVE    TBAINING.  0 

y  resembles  sh  in  .Uaving  the  middle  of  the 
tongue  arched  tovrards  the  palate,  but  without 
the  elevation  of  the  forepart  of  the  tongue, 
which  is  a  necessarj-  part  of  the  modification 
of  sh. 

Corrective    Training, 

A  VERY  little  attention  on  the  part  of  par- 
ents would  secure  their  children  against  artic- 
ulative  blemishes  which  otherwise  disfigure 
them  for  life ;  and  which  are  often  the  first 
causes  of  the  most  painful  impediments.  In- 
stead of  being  satisfied  with  the  child's  im- 
perfect imitation  of  the  general  effect  of 
concrete  utterances  in  words  and  sentences, 
parents  should  require  an  exact  reproduction 
— however  slowl}-  —  of  s^'llables,  and,  if  ncc- 
cssarj^,  of  elementar}^  sounds.  This  of  course 
implies  that  parents  can  themselves  analyze 
their  utterance  into  syllables  and  elements. 
Few  persons  can  do  so  with  entire  accuracy : 
but  the  attempt,  though  imperfect,  will  put 
the  child  in  the  right  way  to  correct  himself. 

Some  children  manifest  a  degree  of  inapti- 
tude for  speech,  probably  from  defective  im- 
itation, or  it  may  be  from  intellectual  dulness  ; 


6  THE   FAULTS    OF   SPEECH. 

SO  that  a  child  of  three  or  four  years  of  age- 
will  be  no  farther  advanced  than  an  average 
child  of  two  or  three.  The  faculty  of  imita- 
tion becomes  almost  inoperative  after  the  earli- 
est years,  and  special  care  should  be  given  in 
such  cases  to  estabhsh  a  habit  of  distinct 
elementary  and  s^^llabic  utterance  so  far  aa 
ability  extends,  and  to  prevent  the  formation 
of  a  habit  of  defect.  It  is  certainlj^  true  that 
a  child  who  fails  to  pronounce  the  whole  of  a 
word  can  be  made  to  reproduce  its  syllables, 
or  its  elements,  one  by  one  ;  and  as  the  long- 
est utterance  is  made  up  of  sj'llables,  these 
onl}'  should  be  required  of  the  learner.  Fac- 
ility of  combination  will  infaUibly  come  with 
practice,  if  patience  and  skill  are  displayed  to 
regulate  the  analytic  utterance  of  the  back- 
ward child. 

There  is  then  no  justification  for  allowing 
lisping,  burring,  lallation  and  other  elementary 
defects  to  become  fixed  into  habits.  True, 
the}'  be  corrected  at  an}^  time,  with  but  little 
trouble  ;  yet  "prevention  is  better  than  cure," 
and  such  elementary  disfigurements  of  aduli. 
speech  ought  to  have  been  rendered  impossible 
by  attention  in  the  nursery  and  school-room.. 


OBGANIC   DEFECTS.  7 

Organic   Defects. 

Organic  causes  of  diflSculty  sometimes  pre- 
fcjent  themselves.  When  the  formation  of  the 
jaws  is  such  that  the  teeth  cannot  be  brought 
evenly  in  line,  the  sibilant  sounds  s  and  z  will 
be  defective ;  when  the  tongue  is  too  closel}' 
tied  to  the  lower  jaw,  the  sounds  of  ^,  d,  n,  I 
and  r  will  be  wanting  in  clearness.  The  den- 
tist may  do  much  to  rectify  the  former  mal- 
formation ;  and  the  surgeon,  by  the  simple 
operation  of  snipping  the  frsenum  that  binds 
the  tongue,  may  give  the  requisite  freedom  in 
the  latter  case. 

A  more  serious  organic  cause  of  defective 
speech  is  cleft  palate,  when  an  opening  exists . 
between  the  mouth  and  the  nasal  passage. 
The  breath,  which  requires  to  be  shut  within 
the  mouth  for  p-b,  t-d,  Jc-g,  escapes  by  the 
nose,  and  a  percussive  articulation  is  impossi- 
ble. In  most  cases  a  skilful  dentist  can  cover 
the  fissure  in  the  palate  b}^  a  suction-plate, 
and  the  power  of  clear  enunciation  may  thus 
be  obtained.  Clefb  palate  causes  all  vowels 
to  be  nasalized ;  but  frequently  the  fault  of 
nasalizing  vowels  is  merely  habitual,  witliout 


8 


THE   FAULTS    OF   SPEECH, 


any  organic  cause.  As  with  the  mechanism 
of  consonants,  so  with  that  of  vowels :  habits 
of  mal-pronunciation  may  be  prevented  more 
easilj'  than  rectified  ;  and  among  other  imper- 
fections, that  of  nasalizing  is  perfectly  suscep- 
tible of  preventive  or  corrective  training. 


IMPEDIMENTS   OF  SPEECH. 

ilAR  more  serious  than  any  of  the  ele- 
mentar}'  defects  hitherto  noticed  are 
those  affections  of  speech  which  create  an  ira- 
: pediment  to  utterance.  These  are  known  by 
the  names  of  stuttering,  stammering,  spas- 
modic hesitation,  etc.  Tiieir  common  charac- 
teristic is  invohmtar}^  action  of  the  organs, 
ivhich  are  not  obedient  to  the  will.  In  stut^' 
tering,  the  articulating  organs  —  the  lips  and 
tongue — rebound  again  and  again  before  the 
sequent  vowel  can  find  egress.  The  mouth 
opens  and  shuts  in  vain  effort  to  act  on  the 
throat ;  and  the  throat  opens  and  shuts  in  vain 
effort  to  act  on  the  diaphnigm.  From  the 
rocking  head  to  the  fluttering  chest  there  is  a 
general  want  of  precision  in  the  attempt  to 
articulate.  In  stammering,  the  breathing  is 
entirely  deranged — the  normal  actions  of  the 
schestand  diaphragm  are  reversed — the  breath 

9 


10  THE  FAULTS    OF  SPEECH, 

is  inspired  in  the  attempt  to  speak  ;  the  throat 
is  shut  in  the  attempt  to  form  sound  ;  the  voice 
is  fitfully  ejected  or  restrained  ;  and  the  ai-ticu- 
lating  organs  when  they  meet  remain  insepar- 
able, as  if  glued  together.  In  spasmodic 
hesitation  there  is  a  futile  straining,  often 
silent  and  choking,  but  occasionally  frightfully 
demonstrative.  The  eyeballs  protrude,  the 
veins  of  the  neck  start  out,  the  face  is  suf- 
fused and  contorted,  and  the  muscles  of  the 
whole  body  are  spasmodicall}-  affected. 

No  sharp  line  of  demarcation  can  be  drawn 
between  these  varieties  of  impediment.  Loose 
stuttering  is  apt  to  pass  into  compressive 
stammering  from  the  dread  of  ridicule  in- 
spired by  consciousness  of  peculiarity ;  and 
the  worst  features  of  spasmodic  diflSculty  may 
supervene,  from  the  increase  of  sensitiveness 
and  the  bitterness  of  disappointed  effort . 

Nervousness. 

Notwithstanding  the  manifest  nervousness 
of  the  majority  of  stammerers,  they  are  rai'ely- 
persons  of  weak   nerves  under   ordinary  cir- 
cumstances.    Their  nervousness  is  associated 
only  with  speaking,  and  it  is  much  more  likely 


STAMMEBING  A  HABIT.  M 

po  have  arisen  as  a  consequence  of  impedi- 
'  ment,  than  to  have  been — as  many  imagine — 
a  cause  of  the  malady.  The  true  cause  prob-  ^^ 
ably  lies  far  back  in  childhood,  when  some 
slight  imperfection  has  been  harshly  corrected 
or  mocked  ;  or  when  weakness  of  the  system  ^ 
after  illness  has  made  the  child  peculiarly  sen- 
sitive under  ordinary  difficulties.  The  slight- 
est beginning  at  that  period  may  lead  on  ta 
the  most,  aggravated  form  of  impediment. 
I  Even  a  casual  example  may  exite  imitation  at 
\the  time  when  that  faculty  is  the  strongest  in 
Our  nature,  and  so  enslave  the  little  mimic. 
Many  isolated  cases  are  believed  to  have  had 
no  other  than  this  simple  origin. 

Stammering  a  Habit, 

The  frequent  occurrence  of  stammering 
among  members  of  the  same  family  has  led 
many  persons  to  imagine  that  the  affection 
was  transmitted  hereditarily,  and  that  conse 
quently  it  was  an  incurable  affliction  of  the 
constitution.  But  there  is  no  ground  for  such 
a  supposition,  opposed  as  it  is  to  the  manifest 
nature  of  the  impediment — pertaining  only  to 
speech,  which  is  altogether  artificial   and  na 


12  THE   FAULT 8    OF   SPEECH. 

part  of  our  physical  endowment.  A  full  con- 
sideration of  the  subject  and  a  wide  experi- 
ence with  all  varieties  of  the  impediment  lead 
to  the  settled  conviction  that  stammerino^  is 
^a  habit  onlj- — the  formation  of  which  may  be 
entirely  prevented  b}^  precautionar}'  training 
in  childhood;  the  growth  of  which  may  be 
easily  checked  before  it  is  aggravated  by  the 
excitements  of  school ;  and  the  uprooting  of 
which  ma}'  be  accomplished  at  any  stage  by 
intelligent  care  and  perseverance* 

Systems  of  Cure. 

The  stammerer's  difficulty  is  :  where  to  turn 
for  effective  assistance.  Certainly  not  to  any 
pretender  who  veils  his  method  in  convenient 
secrec}',  nor  to  an}'  who  profess  to  ' '  charm " 
away  the  impediment  —  or  to  effect  a  cure  in 
a  single  lesson  !  Not  to  an}^  whose  "system" 
involves  drawling,  singing,  sniffing,  whistling, 
stamping,  beating  time  —  all  of  which  expedi- 
ents have  constituted  the  "curative"  means 
of  various  charlatans  ;  nor  to  any  who  bridle 
the  mouth  with  mechanical  appliances  —  forks 
on  the  tongue,  tubes  between  the  lips,  bands 
•over  the  larynx,  pebbles  in  the  mouth,  etc., 


SELF' EFFORT   NECESSARY.  13^ 

etc.  The  habit  of  stammering  can  only  be 
counteracted  b}'  the  cultivation  of  a  habit  of  < 
correct  speaking  founded  on  the  application 
of  natural  principles.  Respecting  these  there 
is  no  myster}^  except  what  arises  from  the  little 
attention  that  has  been  paid  to  the  science  of 
speech. 

Instruction  must  be  sought  from  teachers^ 
whose  professional  position  is  a  guarantee 
against  deception.  If  no  encouragement  were 
given  by  too  credulous  stammerers  to  the  craft, 
of  unqualified  ''professors,"  respectable  teach- 
ers would  prepare  themselves  by  special  study 
for  this  important  department  of  work,  and. 
the  stammerer's  perplexity  to  find  trustworthy 
skill  would  be  at  an  end. 

Self-effort  Necessary, 

But  with  the  best  assistance  the  stammerer 
must  work  out  his  own  ciu-e.     He  cannot  be  ^ 
passive  in  the  matter.     He  must  clearh'  ap-^ 
prehend  the  principles  on  which  he  is  to  pro- 
ceed, and  diligently  appl}^  them.      Nor  must 
he,  in  this,  depend  too  much  on  the  watchful- 
ness of  his  instructor,  but  must  learn  to  watch^ 
over  himself.     His  perfect  release   from   the 


14  Tin:  FAULTS    OF   SPEECH. 

habit  will  require  time,  patience,  and  hopeful       |— 
energetic  effort. 

Temporary   Belief, 

Immediatju  temporar}'  relief  from  the  chok- 
ing and  spasmodic  contortions  of  the  impedi- 
ment is  generall}'  obtained  when  the  art  of 
>  managing  the  breath  is  acquired  —  and  this  is 
often  in  a  single  lesson.  The  stammerer  is 
apt  to  be  unduly  elated  at  this  stage,  and  to 
relax  his  watchfulness.  A  relapse  is  almo! 
certain  to  be  the  consequence.  Besides,  other 
functional  difficulties  will  present  themselves, 
€ach  of  which  must  be  encountered  in  a  cour- 
ageous spirit,  and  mastered  separatel3\ 

The  following  practical  directions  are  de- 
signed for  the  use  of  stammerers  who  may 
attempt  their  own  cure,  as  well  as  for  the 
guidance  of  parents,  governesses  and  school 
teachers. 


.Sji_l 

er      I 


PRACTICAL  DIRECTIONS 


FOR     THE 


CUEE     OF     STAMMERING 


MINOR    DEFECTS. 


THE    CURE    OF     STAMAIERING. 

The  Breath, — Atmospheric  Pressure, 

N  normal  breathing  the  lungs  are  filled 
by  atmospheric  pressure,  to  the  extent 
•of  the  cavity  within  the  chest.  There  is  no 
suction  —  no  effort.  In  deep  breathing,  as  be- 
fore a  sigh,  the  inspiration  is  equally  easy  and 
unlabored.  The  cavity  within  the  chest  is  in- 
creased by  descent  of  the  diaphragm — the 
muscular  base  of  the  chest — as  well  as  by 
expansion  of  the  bony  framework  —  the  ribs, 
etc. —  but  atmospheric  pressure  fills  out  the 
lungs  to  occupy  the  entire  space  created  within 
the  chest. 

Air  Channels, 

The  external  apertures  for  the  entrance  of 
-ihe  air  are  the  mouth  and  nostrils.  Both  these 
f)assages  meet  behind  the  mouth,  in  the  puar- 
fnx  ;  and  the  pharynx  communicates  with  the 

17 


18  THE    FAULTS    OF   SPEECH, 

windpipe.  At  the  top  of  the  windpipe,  be- 
tween it  and  the  pharj^nx,  is  the  organ  of 
Voice — the  laiynx  —  through  which  all  air 
entering  the  kings,  and  all  breath  leaving 
them,  must  pass.  Tn  order  to  make  inspiration 
silent  and  effortless  there  must  be  no  obstruc- 
tion or  constriction  in  an}^  part  of  the  passage. 
Stammerers  attempt  to  "draw"  in  air  while 
the  aperture  of  the  lar^^nx  is  either  closed  or 
greatly  narrowed,  and  even  while  the  mouth- 
passage  is  similarly  obstructed  by  positions  of 
the  tongue.  The  first  point  to  be  impressed 
on  the  stammerer's  mind,  then,  is  that  the 
lungs  j^ZZ  themselves  —  that  no  effort  of  suction 
is  required ;  but  that  if  he  merely  raise  the 
chest,  with  the  passage  to  the  windpipe  open, 
he  cannot  prevent  the  lungs  from  filling . 

Inspiration  and  Expiration, 

Next,  considering  that  air  entering  the 
lungs  and  breath  escaping  from  them  must 
pass  through  the  same  channel,  it  is  obvious 
that  the  acts  of  inspiration  and  expiration 
must  be  alternate,  and  cannot  possibly  take 
place  simultaneously.  Stammerers,  however,  ^ 
endeavour  to  draw  in  air  at  the  same  time  that 


THE     VOICE.  li> 

they  are  making  muscular  efforts  to  expel  the 
breath.  The  first  condition  of  free  respiration 
is,  then,  a  silent  pause  to  replenish  the  lungs 
Again,  in  stammering,  the  chest  is  violently 
heaved  and  pressed  down,  and  the  action  of 
the  diaphragm  is  downwards  instead  of  up- 
wards. The  action  of  the  diaphragm  may  be 
distinctl}^  seen  in  the  motion  of  the  abdomen. 
When  the  diaphragm  falls  (in  inspiration)  the 
abdomen  slightly  protrudes ;  and  when  the 
diaphragm  rises  (in  expiration)  the  abdomen 
falls  inward.  The  chest  should  rise  and  fall 
but  little  ;  it  should  be  kept  moderately  raised 
throughout  speech,  and  the  principal  action  of 
respiration  should  be  in  the  diaphragm.  The- 
requisite  motion,  however,  is  very  slight,  and 
entirely  free  from  jerking.  The  stammerer 
must  practise  the  acts  of  inspiration  and  ex- 
piration until  they  are  practically,  as  well  as 
theoretically,  faultless. 

The  Voice. 

Voice  is  formed  by  the  breath  in  its-out- ' 
ward_j2assag^e  setting  in  vibration  the  edges 
*^)f  the   aperture   of  the   larj'ux  —  the   glottis. 
Stammerers  often  endeavour  to  form  voice  with 


i^ 


-f 


20  THE   FAULTS    OF  SPEECH, 

ingoing  air ;    but   in   general   they   close  the  ^ 
glottis  in  the  effort  to  vocalize.    This  of  course 
stops  the  breath,  and  hence  the ,  choking  and 
other  distressing  s3'mptoms  of  the  impediment. 

Voice  is  the  material  of  Speech.  This  fact,^-^ 
in  all  its  meaning,  the  stammerer  has  to  learn. 
His  efforts  are  alwa^'s  directed  elsewhere  than 
to  the  organ  of  voice.  He  moves  the  head, 
he  moves  the  jaw,  he  moves  the  tongue,  he 
moves  his  limbs,  in  the  vain  attempt  to  force 
out  sound,  the  production  of  which  he  is  all 
the  time  preventing,  by  closing  the  passage 
through  which  onl}'  voice  can  come.  Voice 
being  the  material  of  speech,  the  speaker  must 
have  voice,  whatever  else  he  lacks.  The  stam- 
merer must  not  stint  himself  of  this  material, 
nor  must  he  cut  it  into  shreds  and  fragments  ; 
but  he  must  acquire  command  of  a  full,  strong, 
unbroken  stream  of  sound. 

Exercise — Continuity  of  Voice, 

Having  mastered  the  art  of  regulating  the 
breath,  the  stammerer's  next  step  must  be  to 
practise   the  continuous   production  of  voice.  '^ 
He   should   confine   himself  to   this   exercise 
until  he  has  become  perfectly  familiar  with  all 


-f 


ELEMENTABY   SOUNDS.  21 

vocal  elements  ;  repeating  them  first  one  by 
one,  then  in  long  sequences,  and  then  in  com- 
binations, but  always  without  a  break  in  the 
continuity  of  the  sound. 

The  following  are  the  elements  for  this  ex- 
.  ercise,  all  of  which  ma}-  be  prolonged  ad  lib- 
itum : 

'    a,  e,  i,  o,  u,  ah,  aw,  oo,  oi,  ou ; 

1,  m,  n,  ng,  v,  dh,  z,  zh,  w,  y. 

These  elements  are  not  to  be  considered  as 
''vowels"  and  ''consonants,"  but  simply  as 
voices^  each  of  which  has  precisely  the  same 
sound  in  the  throat ;  their  differences  arising 
solel}^  from  the  shape  of  the  mouth-passage. 

It  must  be  carefully  noted  that  the  names 
of  the  letters  will  be  useless  for  this  exercise  ; 
the  actual  sounds  of  the  elements  must  be 
pronounced. 

How  to  Lear 71  Elementary  Sounds, 

The  reader  unaccustomed  to  phonetic  anal}-^ 
sis  will  have  no  difficulty  in  isolating  the  act- 
ual elementary  sounds,  if  ne  will  simply  p?'o- 
^ong  for  some  seconds  the  elements  printed  in 


"2."^  THE   FAULTS    OF  SPEECH. 

capitals  in  the  following  words,  as  commonly 
pronounced : 

feeL,  seeM,  vaiN,  soNG,  leaVe,  wiTH(dh), 
iS(z),  rouGe(zh)  ;  We,  Yes,  Ale,  An,  EEL 
End,  Isle(ahee),  In,  Old,  On,  Use(yoo), 
Us,  Arm  (ah),  All  (aw),  OOze,  OAVl(ahoo), 
Oil  (awee) . 

The  use  to  be  made  of  the  power  which  will 
be  developed  by  this  exercise  is  all-important. 
The  sensation  of  throat-action  must  never  be 
lost  in  speaking.  When  old  tendencies  in- 
cline to  false  effort,  the  stammerer  will  feel 
himself  off  the  voice ^  like  a  locomotive  off  the 
rails.  Then,  instead  of  plunging  about  wildly 
at  random,  he  must  stop,  and  carefully  put 
himself  upon  the  track  again. 

There  are  three  elements  of  speech  which 
have  obstructed  vocality,  and  cannot  be  pro- 
longed. These  are  B,  D,  and  G  (as  in  go) 
They  are  often  terrible  stumbling-blocks  to  the 
stammerer  :  but  his  never  to  be  forgotten  tal- 
isman is  ;  Voice  !  No  mouth-action  must  be 
allowed  to  interfere  with  throat-sound ! 

There  is  another  class  of  elements  which 
are  entirely  non-vocal^  and  which  therefore 
tend  strongly  to  thi'ow  the  stammerer  "off  the 


DIFFICULT   ELEMENTS.  23 

voice."  These  are  P,  T,  K,  F,  Wh,  Tli,  S, 
Sh,  H.  Each  of  these  should  be  practised 
separatel}',  in  connection  with  a  vowel ;  and 
with  the  principle  constantl}^  before  the  mind 
that  no  mouth-action  must  he  allowed  to  in- 
terfere with  the  flow  of  throat-soxind. 

Difficult  Elements. 

Elements  that  present  special  difficulty  must 
be  made  the  subject  of  special  exercise,  thus  : 
Prolong  any  throat-sound,  say  the  vowel  a/i, 
and  without  stopping  the  sound  introduce  the 
mouth-action  to  be  practised,  say  B,  thus ; 

ah — bah — bah  —  bah — bah,  etc. 

It  will  be  found  that  the  mouth-action  does 
not  interfere  with  the  continuity  of  the  throat- 
sound.  The  exercise  must  be  continued  until 
the  true  relation  between  the  two  kinds  of  ele- 
ments is  distinctly  felt  and  established  in  the 
mind. 

The  relation  between  the  throat  and  the 
mouth  in  speech  will  be  understood  when  it  is 
stated  to  be  the  same  as  that  between  the 
sound-producing  part  of  t\\Q  flute — the  mouth- 
hole —  and   the   sound-modifying   parts  —  tlie 


24  THE   FAULTS    OF   SPEECH. 

fiuger-holes.  The  action  of  the  fingers  modi- 
fies, without  interrupting,  the  sound  produced 
at  the  mouth-hole ;  and  so  the  mouth-actions 
in  speech  modify,  without  interrupting,  the 
sound  produced  in  the  throat.  This  relation 
must  be  established  practicall}',  in  connection 
with  the  elements  of  speech,  in  cases  of  stam- 
mering, and  all  diflSculty,  and  dread  of  diffi- 
cult}^  will  certainly-  sooner  or  later  disappear. 
A  few  other  directions  will  complete  all 
that  is  necessary  to  be  attended  to  in  overcom- 
ing the  habit  of  stammering. 

The  Mouth  a  Tube, 

From  what  has  been  already  said,  it  will  be 
understood  that  all  effort  thrown  into  the 
mouth,  jaw,  lips  or  tongue,  is  futile.  The 
mouth  should  be  as  nearly  as  possible  passive^ 
a  mere  tube  or  funnel  for  the  deliver}^  of  throat- 
sound.  The  mouth-tube  is  constantly  varying 
in  shape  ;  but  it  is  always  a  transmitter  only,, 
and  never  an  originator  of  sound. 

The  Jaw, 

A  GREAT  deal  of  the  stammerer's  difficult^' 
will  consist  in  subduing  the  upward  pressure 


THE   HEAD,  2h 

of  the  jaw.  Whatever  action  the  jaw  lias" 
should  be  downward ;  but  there  must  be  no 
pressure,  even  in  the  right  direction.  The 
practice  of  throwing  the  effort  of  speech  back 
to  the  throat  will,  however,  speedily  relieve 
the  tendency  of  the  mouth-organs  to  cling  to- 
gether. 

When  mechanical  assistance  ma}'  be  ncces-^ 
sar}',  a  paper-cutter  held  against  the  edges  ot 
the  upper  teeth  will  manifest  an}^  undue  up- 
ward motion  of  the  jaw,  while  it  will  not  pre- 
vent the  mouth  from  opening.  The  paper- 
cutter  must  not  be  held  between,  or  bj-,  the 
teeth.  When  the  maxillar}'  dijfficulty  has  been 
overcome,  the  lower  teeth  should  not  once 
touch  the  paper-cutter,  in  reading  or  speaking. 
A  gentle  contact  will  be  almost  unavoidable 
in  forming  the  hissing  sounds,  but  even  this 
should  be  prevented  in  curative  exercise.  ^ 

The  Head, 

A  LOOSE  rising  motion  of  the  head  is  almost 
a  universal  feature  in  stammering.  This  must 
be  subdued  before  power  can  be  obtained  over 
the  organs  of  speech.  The  head  should  be 
hold  firmlv  on  the  neck,  so  that  even  a  con- 


-h 


26  THE    FAULTS    OF    SPEECH. 

siderable  pressure  would  not  force  it  back 
At  the  same  time  there  should  be  no  stiffness 
to  interfere  with  free  motion.  The  fault  con- 
sists in  lifting  the  head,  as  a  part  of  the  action 
of  speech  ;  and  it  is  often  a  source  of  ver}" 
great  difficulty.  The  jaw  cannot  be  controlled 
while  its  fulcrum,  the  head,  is  unstable  and 
yielding. 

Spasmodic  Actions, 

With  reference  to  the  spasmodic  actions  of 
stammering,  which  sometimes  extend  over  the 
whole  body,  no  specific  directions  are  needed. 
The}'  invariabl}'  disappear  when  the  breathing 
is  relieved. 

There  is  nothing  to  prevent  a  stammerer 
who  will  thoroughly  master  the  principles  laid 
•down  jn  this  Treatise  and  diligentl}'  and  watch 
fully  excKjise  his  voice,  from  perfectly  throw- 
ing off  the  fetters  of  impediment.  Many 
exercises  will  be  found  in  the  Author's  '^  Prin- 
ciples of  Speech,"  which  will  be  of  service. 
But,  while  a  study  of  the  whole  subject,  and 
a  knowledge  of  all  the  organic  actions,  as  ex- 
hibited in  "Visible  Speech,"  are  desirable,  if 
not  nccessar}',  for  teachers,  stammerers  should 


SELF'  OB  SEE  VA  TION.  2  7 

tQot  allow  the  mind  to  be  diverted  from  the 
-direct  and  simple  means  of  cure  sufficiently 
set  forth  in  these  pages. 

Self'  Observation, 

One  important  hint  remains  to  be  given. 
With  all  persons  speech- actions  are  so  purely* 
habitual  that  without  watchful  observation 
faults  ma}^  long  remain  undiscovered.  This 
is  especially  true  in  reference  to  the  minutiae 
of  the  organic  actions  on  the  rectification  of 
which  success  depends  in  cases  of  defect  or 
impediment.  The  stammerer  will  therefore 
find  the  use  of  a  mirror  a  most  valuable  auxil- 
iary in  his  efibrts  at  self-correction.  In  carry- 
ing out  the  prescribed  principles  for  the 
regulation  of  the  breath,  the  control  of  the 
head  and  the  jaw,  the  proper  mechanism  of 
elementary  sounds,  etc.,  let  the  stammerei 
seat  himself  before  a  mirror,  and  he  will  learn 
man}^  things  of  which  he  might  otherwise  have 
-continued  unconscious.  Even  teachers,  in 
dealing  with  defects  and  impediments  of 
speech,  should  place  their  pupils  before  a  mir- 
ror, as  the  readiest  means  of  giving  them 
command  over  the  organs  of  articulation.    To 


28  THE   FAULTi^    OF   SPEECH, 

this  use  of  the  principle  of  "reflection"  as  an 
aid  to  self-government,  the  poet's  denuncia- 
tion of 

"Attitude  and  stare,  and  start  theatric 
Practised  at  the  glass," 

has  no  applicabuity.  The  vocal  action  of 
singers,  as  well  as  speakers,  would  less  fre- 
quently offend  the  e3'e  if  students  were  taught 
to  exercise  the  voice  before  a  glass,  that  the}* 
might  ''see  themselves  as  others  see  them." 

Capricious  Difficulties, 

It  is  a  very  curious  circumstance  that  stam- 
merers who  are  powerless  in  the  presence  of 
friends  or  strangers,  generally  declare  that 
they  can  speak  freely  when  alone.  A  child, 
however,  or  even  a  cat,  in  the  room  is  enough 
to  destroy  their  freedom.  The  proper  use  to 
make  of  this  fact  should  be  to  build  on  it  as 
a  ground  of  hopefulness  and  confidence ;  for 
it  proves  that  no  organic  cause  exists  to  pre- 
vent success,  and  thus  disposes  of  the  mj's- 
terious  dread  of  phj^sical  entailment.  But 
stammerers  are  often  the  victims  of  man}" 
equall}^  groundless  fancies: — supposing  their 
Infirmity  to  be  afi'ected  by  certain  states  of  the 


AGGEAVANTJS    OF  DIFFICULTY.       29 

atmosphere,  the  clu'ectiou  of  the  wind,  or  the 
phases  of  the  moon !  Those  who  look  for 
such  associations  are  pretty  sure  to  find  them. 
But  they  carr}'  the  seekers  back  to  the  days 
of  witchcraft  and  the  ' '  evil  eye '' —  to  da3's  of 
ignorance  ! 

Aggravants  of  Difficulty. 

The  function  of  articulation  —  like  ever}^ 
other  function — is,  of  course,  affected  by  the 
condition  of  the  health  —  deranged  digestion, 
depression  of  spirits,  ph3'sical  debility,  etc.  ; 
but  these  aggravants  are  not  to  be  confounded 
with  original  causes  of  the  difficulty.  The 
former  will  disappear  and  still  leave  the  latter 
behind.  The  stammerer  must  cast  off  idle 
superstitious  fears  and  fancies,  and  se^  ^^  .JL- 
worJc  to  stud}'  and  observe.  He  will  undoubt-  ' 
edl}'  find  that ''Knowledge  is  power;"  and 
that,  with  knowledge,  "Patience  and  perse- 
verance will  conquer  all  difficulties." 


-4- 


MINOR  FAULTS. 

Nasalizing, 

J  HE  sofl  palate  which  hangs  at  the  back 
of  the  mouth  acts  as  a  valve  on  the 
passage  to  the  nose.  When  the  top  of  the 
soft  palate  is  arched  backwards  from  its  point 
of  junction  with  the  hard  palate,  it  covers  the 
internal  nasal  aperture,  and  the  breath  passes 
altogether  through  the  mouth.  When  the  soft 
palate  is  relaxed  and  pendent  from  the  edge 
of  the  hard  palate,  the  breath  passes  partly 
through  the  nose  and  partly  through  the 
mouth  ;  and  vrhen  the  mouth-passage  is  closed 
(by  means  of  the  back  of  the  tongue,  as  in  ng ; 
the  forepart  of  the  tongue,  as  in  n;  or  the 
lips,  as  in  m)  the  breath  passes  altogether  by 
the  nose.  A  knowledge  of  these  facts  will 
enable  any  person  to  correct  the  habit  of  na- 
salizing vowels. 

The  chief  difficult}-  lies  in  the  recognition* 
30 


NASALIZING.  31 

by  the  ear  of  pure  oral  and  mixed  nasal  qual- 
ity. The  action  of  the  soft  palate  ma}-,  how- 
ever, be  seen,  by  opening  the  mouth  very  wide 
in  pronouncing  the  vowels  ah  and  aiv.  Then, 
by  pressing  on  the  top  of  the  soft  palate  with 
the  thumb,  or  with  the  india-rubber  end  of  a 
pencil,  the  internal  nasal  aperture  will  be  cov- 
ered, and  the  utterance  of  ah  and  aw  will  be 
purely  oral.  Repeat  these  vowels  with  and 
without  the  mechanical  pressure,  and  after  a 
few  experiments  the  ear  will  distinguish  the 
difference  between  oral  and  nasal.  Practice 
on  other  vowels,  in  forming  which  the  soft 
palate  cannot  be  seen,  will  soon  develop  a 
feeling  of  the  difference. 

But  the  readiest  way  to  gain  a  perception 
of  the  denasalizing  action  of  the  soft  palate 
will  be  by  the  following  exercise  : 

Sound  the  consonants  m  h  without  separat- 
ing the  lips,  as  in  pronouncing  the  word  ember. 

The  change  from  m  to  6  is  nothing  more  than 
the  covering  of  the  nasal  aperture  by  the  soft 
palate ;  and  the  change  from  h  to  m,  without 
separating  the  lips,  as  in  the  word  submit^  is 
merely  the  uncovering  of  the  nasal  aperture.^ 


52  THE   FAULTS    OF  SPEECH. 

The  tendencj"  to  nasalize  vowels  is  most  felt 
when  they  occur  immediately  before  or  after 
nasal  consonants  —  m,  n  or  ng — but  many 
persons  nasalize  every  vowel. 

The  French  elements  an^  en,  in,  on^  un^  amy 
£m,  etc.,  are  merety  nasalized  vowels. 

The  Aspirate, 

The  letter  H  represents  a  simple  and  nearly 
silent  emission  of  breath.  The  organs  of 
snepch  are  placed  in  the  position  for  the  sub- 
sequent vowel  before  the  emission  of  the  aspi- 
rate. Thus  7i  in  the  words  he^  Jiay,  hie,  hoe^ 
hahy  etc.,  has  the  oral  quality  of  the  vowel  it 
precedes.  The  aspirate  is  not  the  same  as  a 
whispered  vowel,  for  the  words  his  and  is, 
hand  and  and,  hold  and  old,  hart  and  art  are 
clearly  distinguishable  when  whispered. 

H  is  sometimes  roughened  faultily  by  a  gut- 
tural quality.  To  correct  this  habit,  breathe 
out  the  aspirate  silently. 

The  Cockney  confusion  of  vowels  and  aspi- 
rates is  a  remarkable  fault  which  will  disap- 
pear when  learners  are  taught  phonetically  in 
the  abecedarian  stage  of  education.  The  same 
person  who  says  all  for  hall  pronounces  hall 


VOCAL    CONSONANTS.  33 

for  aW,  and  so  proves  that  the  perverse  habit 
is  due  only  to  defective  elementary  training. 

H  is  omitted  in  pronouncing  the  words  Jieir^ 
honest,  honour,  hour,  humour,  and  their  deriv- 
atives. It  should  be  pronounced  in  herb,  hos- 
pital, humble,  and  all  other  words. 

H  is  heard  instead  of  wh,  before  o,  as  in 
who,  whose,  whom,  whole. 

Vocal  Consonants. 

The  following  consonants  are  respectively 
pairs  of  vocal  and  non-vocal  elements ;  that 
is,  the  consonants  in  the  second  column  have 
precisel}'  the  same  oral  formation  as  those  in 
the  first  column,  but  with  the  addition  of 
throat-sound  or  murmur. 

non-vocal.  vocal. 

P B 

T D 

K G  as  in  ^o. 

F V 

WH W 

S Z 

SH ZHasint?mon. 

THasin^/ii;i TU(^dh)as\n 

CR  as  in  church J  ^'*^'^- 

X(^^ks)  as  in  extend  .    .     .     X(=gz)&siu 

exist . 


34  .THE   FAUuTS    OF   SPEECH. 

These  pairs  of  consonants  are  confused  by 
Gaelic  and  Welsh  speakers,  who  substitute 
non-vocal  for  vocal  elements  ;  and  by  German 
speakers,  who  mix  up  the  elements  some  tunes 
by  a  similar  substitution,  but  more  frequentl}' 
by  the  use  of  vocal  instead  of  non-vocal  ele- 
ments. Careful  exercise  and  observation  will 
^intirely  remove  these  difficulties. 

Thickness  of  Speech, 

The  consonants  ^,  d,  n,  ?,  r,  are  correct- 
'y^  formed  by  the  point  of  the  tongue  acting 
against  the  upper  gum  ;  but  in  "thick"  speech 
the  tongue  acts  against  the  teeth,  or  the  point 
rests  on  the  lower  teeth  and  the  above  ele- 
ments are  imperfectly  formed  by  the  surface 
of  the  tongue.  This  fault  is  unavoidable  when 
the  tongue  is  so  tied  to  the  bed  of  the  jaw  that 
the  point  cannot  be  raised.  But  "thickness" 
has  not  alwaj's  this  excuse  ;"  it  is  often  the  re- 
sult of  a  childish  habit  of  sucking  the  tongue, 
that  should  have  been  ' '  put  away "  with  the 
years  of  childhood.  The  more  sharpl}'  the 
tongue  can  be  pointed  upwards,  the  better  will 
t^  d,  n,  Z,  and  r  be  formed.  The  tongue  should 
never  touch  the  lower  teeth  in  speech,  and  it 


CONVEBSATIONAL  SLUBRING.        35 

should  never  come  between  the  teeth  except 
for  the  single  element  tli — d/i,  and  then  to  a 
very  slight  extent.  In  fact,  th  is  best  formed 
with  the  tongue  behind^  instead  of  between, 
the  teeth. 

Oratorical  Faults. 
Conversational  Slurring. 

When  a  person  unaccustomed  to  public 
speaking  has  occasion  to  address  an  audience, 
his  words  seem  to  run  together,  and  it  is  only 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  their  purport 
can  be  gathered  by  a  hearer  at  a  little  distance. 
He  is  called  on  to  ''speak  out"  and  "speak 
up,"  but  increase  of  force  is  of  little  avail. 
He  has  to  learn  the  ditference  between  speak- 
ing and  mumbling. 

Conversational  speech  is,  in  general,  verj- 
slovenl}'.  Could  it  be  written  down  exactly 
as  we  hear  it,  the  speaker  would  not  recognize 
the  unintelligible  jargon.     Thus  : 

Convsashnlspeech  zngenlveslovnly. 

This  is  not  an  exaggeration  of  the  kind  of 
utterance  that  passes  current  in  social  life. 
The   chief   element    of    distant   audibilit}-— 


36  THE   FAULTS    OF  SPEECH. 

throat-sound,  or  voice  —  is  so  curtailed  and 
slurred  out.  that  little  more  than  mouth-actions 
remain. 

Sustained  Voice, 

The  very  reverse  must  be  the  relation  of 
throat  to  mouth  in  oratorical  speech.  Conso- 
nants may  be  softened  to  any  degree,  but 
vowels  must  be  given  fully  and  with  swelling 
clearness.     Thus : 

cOnvErsAshUnAl  spEEch  Is  In  gEnEr- 
Al  vErY  slOvEnlY. 

But  it  is  possible  to  soften  the  consonants 
too  much ;  to  soften  them  away  altogether,  as 
we  hear  from  some  yaw-yaw-yaw  speakers 
whose  utterance  is 

Vox  et  preterea  nihil. 

In  good  delivery  every  element  should  be 
heard  in  its  proper  relation  to  other  elements  ; 
every  syllable  in  its  proper  relation  to  other 
syllables  ;  every  word  in  its  proper  relation  to 
other  words  ;  every  sentence  in  its  proper  rela- 
tion to  other  sentences. 

Sustained  vocality  is  the  secret  of  good 
oratorical  speech.     This  quahty  has  perhaps 


SUSTAINED    VOICE,  37 

never  been  better  illustrated  than  in  the  case 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Spurgeon,  who,  with  no  ap- 
parent effort,  in  the  vast  Agricultural  Hall,  at 
Islington,  London,  made  himself  distinctly 
heard  by  an  assemblage  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand persons.*  There  could,  of  course,  be  no 
undue  softening  of  the  consonants  in  such 
delivery,  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  was  an}' 
harshness  or  prominence  of  consonant-action 
perceptible  even  to  the  nearest  auditor. 

Some  coarseness  of  effect  to  ears  in  the  im- 
mediate vicinity  of  a  speaker  is  almost  un- 
avoidable in  order  to  secure  effectiveness  at  a 
distance.  Oratory  is  in  this  respect  analogous 
to  scene-painting :  the  canvas  which  charms 
by  the  softness  of  its  depictions  when  viewed 
from  the  proper  standpoint,  is  often  incredibly 
rough  to  a  close  inspector.    The  speaker,  then, 

*  I  was  present  on  one  of  the  occasions.  I  got  as  near 
to  the  speaker  as  possible,  with  the  view  of  studying  his 
management  of  the  vocal  bellows;  but  I  could  discover  no 
tmusual  labour  or  straining.  All  was  easy  and  natural. 
I  was  within  five  feet  of  the  speaker;  and  a  friend  with 
whom  I  was  to  compare  notes  took  the  most  distant  seat  from 
the  platform.  We  counted  the  audience  by  means  of  the 
uniform  sections  into  which  the  seats  were  arranged,  and 
found  the  number  of  hearers  was  upwards  of  25,000.  The 
nearest  ear  was  not  offended  by  bellowing :  the  most  distant 
lost  no  syllable. 


38  THE   FAULTS    OF   SPEECH. 

may  without  offence  lay  on  his  vowel  lights 
and  shades  in  masses^  and  give  corresponding 
strength  and  firmness  to  his  consonant  out- 
lines, in  order  to  produce  the  right  effect  in 
the  farther  corners  and  galleries  of  his  audi- 
torium. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  percussiveness  of 
good  oratorical  speech  is  not  due  to  chest- 
action — which  would  be  laborious  —  but  ta 
expansibility  of  the  pharynx,  the  cavity  at  the 
back  of  the  mouth  and  above  the  throat.  Dis- 
tension of  the  pharynx  ma}^  be  plainly  seen  in 
the  neck  of  a  player  on  the  bugle  or  cornet-a- 
piston. 

Mai  *  Respiration, 

The  exhaustion  after  vocal  effort  from  which 
many  public  speakers,  especiall}^  clergymen, 
suffer;  the  ''clerical  sore-throat,"  which  hj 
its  frequency  has  won  for  itself  a  place  in 
medical  terminology ;  and  the  wild  outbursts 
of  vociferation  which  throw  the  whole  physical 
frame  into  violent  action,  are  due  to  misman- 
agement of  the  "vocal  bellows." 

The  principles  of  easy,  natural,  powerful 
respiration  are   fully  explained  in  the  earlier 


MAL'BESPIBATION.  39 

sections  of  this  work.  Let  public  speakers 
develop  the  solidity  of  chest  and  mobility  of 
diaphragm  prescribed  for  the  enfranchisement 
of  stammerers  from  their  spasms  of  difficult}', 
and  the  oratorical  defects  associated  with  mal- 
respiration  —  and  which  are  so  often  painful  in 
their  consequences — will  be  unknown. 

Oratorical  defects  in  the  expressive  manage- 
ment of  the  voice,  by  inflection  and  modula- 
tion, are  extremely  common.  In  reference  to 
these  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  Authoi-'s 
^'Principles  of  Elocution."* 

*  Fo'jrth  edition,  1878.   Salem,  Mass.,  J.  P.  Burbank. 


ORGANIC   SUBSTITUTIONS. 


GREAT  variety  of  the  minor  defects 
of  speech  arise  from  the  substitution  of 
one  part  for  another  of  the  oral  organs.  The 
correction  of  such  defects  presents  no  diflSculty 
to  one  who  is  familiar  with  the  true  formation 
of  the  elements  of  speech.  The  following 
classification  embraces  all  ordinary  defects  of 
this  kind.  The  directions  given  should  render 
self-correction  a  hopeful  undertaking  in  any 
case,  however  long-established  may  be  the 
habit. 

One  plan  of  exercise  should  regulate  teacher 
or  self-corrector  in  all  cases.  The  attempt  to 
introduce  a  new  element  at  once  in  reading  or 
speaking  will  never  succeed.  Awkwardness 
and  habit  will  defeat  the  best  efforts  of  unac- 
customed organs.  Elementary  power  must 
first  be  gained.  Thus  : 
40 


OBGANIC    SUBSTITUTIONS,  41 

I.  Pronounce  the  element  separately  again  and 
again,  until  it  becomes  easy  of  formation. 

II.  Practise  its  combination  with  a  single  vowels 
and  continue  this  form  of  exercise  until 
rapid  reiteration  becomes  easy. 

III.  Practise  separately  all  the  consonant  com- 
binations into  which  the  element  enters. 

IV.  Pronounce  words  or  sentences  containing 
the  element — repeating  each  quickly.  . 

V.  Introduce  the  corrected  element  in  read- 
ing, by  slightly  holding  or  prolonging  it  at 
each  recurrence,  until  the  habit  is  formed 
of  articulating  it  correctly  without  special 
effort. 

One  hour  of  systematic  exercise  regulated 
as  above,  will  do  more  than  a  week  of  desul- 
tory effort. 

h—D  for  G. 

This  is  generally  an  infantile  defect,  and 
easily  corrected  (see  page  .3)  ;  but  if  no  efforts 
are  made  for  its  removal  at  an  early  age,  it 
will  continue  to  disfigure  even  adult  speech. 
When  we  hear  a  grown-up  boy  or  girl  saying 
*^dood"  for  good,  and  ''dive"  for  give,  the 
very  natural  assumption  is  that  there  must  be 


42  THE   FAULTS    OF   SPEECH. 

a  congenital  cause  for  the  defect.  But  this  is 
a  mistake.  The  action  of  the  back  of  the 
tongue  only  requires  to  be  developed.  Hold 
down  the  forepart  of  the  tongue,  and  the  back 
will  be  compelled  into  action.  Give  this  me- 
chanical assistance  in  pronouncing  the  words 

gay,  guy,  go,  gawk,  gag. 

An  hour's  exercise  should  cure  this  defect. 

It  is  a  cm*ious  fact  that  perhaps  three-fourths 
of  all  speakers  unconsciously  substitute  d  for 
g  in  the  initial  combination  gl,  as  in  glad, 
glide,  etc.  Indeed,  the  resemblance  in  sound 
is  so  close  that  only  a  watchful  ear  will  dis- 
cover the  difference.     Try : 

dlad,  dlide,  dlow,  dlove,  dlory,  dloom, 
glad,  glide,  glow,  glove,  glory,  gloom. 

The  formation  of  »  as  that  letter  is  pro- 
nounced before  a  vowel,  requires  the  tip  of  the 
tongue  to  be  pointed  towards  the  upper  gum. 
In  this  defective  substitution  the  tongue  lies 
flat,  and  acts  forward  against  the  teeth,  giving 
the  sound  of  a  soft  dh  (=  th  as  in  tJien) ,  instead 
of  r.     Thus : 


OBGANIC  SUBSTITUTIONS.  43 

^'Apdhetty  intedhesting  bdhide" 
A  prett}^  interesting  bride. 

Inability  to  raise  the  tongue  is  generall}'  the 
cause  of  this  defect.  To  effect  a  perfect  cure 
the  tongue  may  require  to  be  loosened  ;  but 
careful  exercise  will,  in  most  cases,  develop 
sufficient  .power  to  make  a  good — though  un- 
trilled — r  without  an  operation. 

III.— I^' for  S. 

This  is  one  of  the  man}^  forms  of  defect 
arising  from  inactivit}^  of  the  forepart  of  the 
tongue.  Sometimes  a  slight  s-ward  motion  is 
made  by  the  tongue  at  the  same  time  that  the 
lip's  movement  gives  sharpness  to  the  sibila- 
tion.  To  correct  this  defect,  hold  down  the 
lower  lip,  and  see  the  teeth,  while  pronounc- 
ing s. 

IV,— F  for  Til.  ' 

This  defective  substitution  arises  from  the 
same  cause  as  the  preceding  —  sluggishness 
of  the  tongue.  To  correct  it,  hold  down  the 
lower  lip  and  see  the  teeth  while  pronounc- 
ing th, 

F  and  th  are  so  much  alike  in  phonetic  effect 


44  THE   FAULTS    OF  SPEECH. 

that  this  substitution  might  almost  pass  un- 
noticed by  one  who  did  not  see  the  speaker's 
mouth.  The  resemblance  will  be  manifest  in 
the  following  experiment : 

free^    firty^    Jirty-free^    featre^  fimhle. 

three,  thirty,  thirty-three,  theatre,  thimble. 

V.—  Gh  for  B. 

This  is  the  defect  commonly  called  ' '  Burr- 
ing," in  which  the  back  of  the  tongue  is 
brought  into  action  instead  of  the  point.  The 
sound  has  all  the  varieties  of  the  front-lingual 
vibration  —  smooth,  when  the  soft  palate  is 
merely  approximated  to  the  back  of  the 
tongue ;  and  rough,  when  the  uvula  is  rattled 
against  the  tongue. 

This  defect  sometimes  arises  from  tongue- 
tiedness,  but  is  very  often  a  mere  habit  ac- 
quired by  imitation.  The  cure  is  by  no  means 
difficult.  To  bring  the  point  of  the  tongue 
into  action,  prolong  the  vowel  aw  and  lift  the 
tip  of  the  tongue  till  it  almost  touches  the 
edge  of  the  palatal  arch.  Repeat  the  action 
a  number  of  times  without  stopping  the  vowel 
sound.  In  this  way  the  characteristic  vibra- 
tion of  r  will  be  gradually  developed. 


OBGANIC   SUBSTITUTIONS.  45 

The  tongue  in  this  exercise  may  be  raised 
so  close  to  the  palate  as  to  produce  the  effect 
of  d — but  softl}^  and  without  pressure,  thus  ; 

aw — daw — daw — daw — daw ,  etc. 

Gradually  endeavour  to  maintain  the  tongue 
in  this  close  approximation  to  the  palate  all 
the  time  that  a  continual  vocal  buzz  is  heard. 
This  is  a  rudimental  r.  Practice  on  this  new 
element,  according  to  the  directions  on  page 
41,  will  complete  the  cure. 

When  the  tongue  is  too  much  tied  to  the  bed 
of  the  jaw,  the  true  vibration  cannot  be  per- 
fectly acquired  without  an  operation  ;  but  the 
"burring"  may  at  least  be  discontinued,  and 
an  approximately  distinct  r  substituted. 

VL—L  for  E. 

This  substitution  is  common  among  child- 
ren, the  articulation  of  I  being  easier  than  that 
of  r.  The  Chinese  never  pronounce  r,  but 
substitute  L  The  two  sounds  are  produced 
by  the  action  of  the  same  i)art  of  the  tongue 
— the  point ;  at  the  same  part  of  the  palate — 
the  upper  gum  :  the  difference  being  that  the 
voice  passes  over  the  tip  of  the  tongue  for  r 


46  THE   FAULTS    OF   SPEECIL 

and  over  the  sides  for  I.  The  alternation  of 
these  letters  in  words  and  sentences  presents 
-a  difficult}^  to  most  persons;  as  in  ''Truly 
rural.'*  ''Rob  ran  along  the  lane  in  the  rain." 
"A  lump  of  raw,  red  liver,"  etc.* 

VIL~Lli  for  S  or  Sh, 

The  sibilants  s  and  sh  are  produced  by  the 
breath  passing  along  a  central  channel  over 
the  tongue  arched  towards  the  palate,  and 
with  more  or  less  elevation  of  the  point.  This 
defect  consists  in  passing  the  breath  over  one 
or  both  sides  of  the  tongue,  as  in  forming  I 
without  voice.  The  I  apertures  are  narrowed 
so  as  to  cause  a  hissing,  not  unlike  that  of  the 
true  sibilants.  To  correct  this  fault,  the  first 
point  is  to  concentrate  the  breath  in  a  single 
central  channel.  The  channel  of  r  may  be 
used  as  a  guide  ;  and  the  channel  of  y  will  also 
be  available.  Substitute  r  without  voice  for 
the  defective  "cluttering"  s ;  and  y  witliout 
voice  for  the  defective  sh.  By  arching  the 
middle  of  the  tongue  while  the  point  is  in  the 
position   for  r,  s  will  be   produced ;    and  by 

*  Many  exercises  on  these  and  other  difficult  combinations 
will  be  found  in  the  Author's  "  Principles  of  Speech  and 
•Dictionary  of  Sounds.'* 


OBGANIC   SUBSTITUTIONS.  47 

raising  the  front  of  the  tongue  while  the  mid- 
dle is  in  the  position  for  2/,  sli  will  be  produced. 
The  sounds  obtained  may  at  first  be  very  im- 
perfect, but  they  will  work  into  form.  Per- 
haps—  as  often  happens  —  some  experimental 
or  accidental  shift  may  strike  the  true  position 
and  end  all  difficult}'.  The  hisses  must,  how- 
ever, be  perfected  as  elements  before  an}-  at- 
tempt is  made  to  introduce  them  into  words 
and  sentences. 

VIIL—N  for  Ng. 

Children  who  pronounce  d  for  g  and  t  for 
jfc,  of  course  sound  n  instead  of  ng.  But  the 
substitution  is  ver}'  common  also  among  care- 
less speakers  in  pronouncing  the  termination 
ing :  as  in  meetin^  eatin^  and  drinkin^  for  meet- 
ing, eating  and  drinking.  This  substitution 
is  universal  in  Scotland.  In  the  words  length 
and  strength  the  ng  is  very  apt  to  be  changed 
into  n  for  ease  of  pronunciation.  The  sounds 
of  k,  g  and  ng  are  pronounced  by  the  very 
same  organic  action — contact  and  separation 
of  the  back  of  the  tongue  and  the  soft  pal- 
ate :  the  differences  being  that  k  is  non- vocal, 
g  vocal,  and  ng  naso-vocal. 


48  THE    FAULTS    OF  SPEECH. 

IX.—Ng  for  L. 

This  substitution  is  a  not  uncommon  accom- 
paniment of  burring,  arising  from  the  same 
inability  —  or  habitual  difficult}'  —  in  raising 
the  point  of  the  tongue.  The  effect  of  ng  at 
the  beginning  of  a  syllable  is  ver}'  peculiar,  as 
that  element  is  never  initial  in  English.    Thus  : 

ngove^  ngord^  ngady,  nget  weng  angonc. 
love,    lord,    lad}',     let  well   alone. 

The  formation  of  Z  has  been  explained  above 
(see  page  45) .  Some  assistance  in  correcting 
this  defect  will  be  obtained,  at  first,  b}^  holding 
the  nostrils,  to  prevent  emission  of  sound  by 
the  nose. 

X.—  Ng  for  N, 

This  is  an  allowed  assimilation,  not  a  defect, 
when  n  occurs  before  k  in  the  same  syllable,, 
as  in 

ingk^  rangk,  mongk^  trungk, 
ink,   rank,   monk,   trunk. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  articulate  n  in  these 
words. 

The   same   substitution  of  ng  for   ?i   taxes 


OBGANIC   SUBSTITUTION'S.  49 

place      but   not  uniformly — ^^  before  g;   as  in 

angger^  Jingger^  longger,  langguage, 
anger,    finger,   longer,    language. 

Foreigners  are  unnecessarily  puzzled  b}^  the 
Anomaly  between  such  words  and  hanger,  sing- 
er, wronger,  etc.,  where  the  ng  represents  a 
single  consonant. 

XI, —  Ngg  for  Ng. 

This  is  a  Cockney  peculiarity,  occurring 
chiefly  where  ng  is  followed  by  a  vowel,  as  in 

singging^  sing-g-a  song. 
singing,    sing  a  song. 
The  correction  of  this  defect  will  be  assisted 
at  first  by  a  slight  stop  between  the  ng  and  the 
vowel. 

XIL     Nil  for  S. 

The  efiect  represented  by  nh  is  n  without 
voice  —  a  simple  breathing  through  the  nose 
while  the  tongue  is  in  the  position  for  n.  This 
defect  is  generally  attributed  to  a  congenital 
organic  cause  ;  but  when  it  occurs  as  the  sin- 
gle nasal  peculiarity  of  a  speaker,  it  may  be 
confidently  pronounced  to  be  merely  a  correc- 


50  rilE   FAULTS    OF   SPEECH. 

tible  habit.  Assistance  will  be  derived  at  first 
from  a  mechanical  prevention  of  nasal  emis- 
sion— b}^  pinching  the  nostrils  ;  and  also  by 
blowing  a  feather  off  the  hand  held  before  the 
mouth. 

When  oral  emission  has  thus  been  obtained 
the  means  already  prescribed  for  acquiring  the 
s  sibilation  (see  page  46) ,  will  be  effectual  in 
curing  the  ungainly  sniffling  of  this  defect. 

XIIL     S  for  Sh,  and  Sh  for  S. 

These  two  forms  of  defective  sibilation  will 
be  connected  by  the  means  pointed  out  in  pre- 
vious' sections.  The  shades  of  difference  in 
hissing  sounds  are  numerous  :  man}^  sibilations 
are  heard  of  an  intermediate  kind,  and  which 
partake  more  or  less  of  the  characteristics  of 
one  or  the  other  of  the  representative  sibilants. 
Organic  malformation  sometimes  prevents  a 
perfect  rectification  —  as  irregularit}'  of  the 
teeth ;  inability  to  close  the  jaws ;  projecting 
or  retreating  jaw,  etc. — but  even  in  the  worst 
of  such  cases,  improvement  will  follow  intelli- 
gent effort.  In  all  cases  where  no  malfonna- 
tion  exists,  the  sibilants  may  be  adjusted  to  a 
normal  standard. 


ORGANIC   SUBSTITUTIONS.  51 

The  teeth  require  to  be  very^  close  in  pro- 
nouncing s  and  sli.  They  should  not  touch, 
but  theu'  separation  can  not  be  greater  than 
the  thickness  of  a  paper-cutter  without  produc- 
ing some  peculiarity. 

The  alternation  of  s  and  sli — like  that  of  r 
and  I — presents  a  difficulty  to  most  persons, 
as  in  "Such  a  sash."  "A  shot  silk  sash.'* 
"A  shabby  sash,"  etc.* 

XIV.— S  for  Til  and  Z  for  Dh. 

This  substitution  is  made  by  French  speak- 
ers, whose  native  language  does  not  contain 
the  sounds  of  th  and  dh.  Imitation  might  be 
expected  to  teach  the  foreigner  so  obvious  an 
articulation  ;  3'et  those  who  have  spoken  Eng- 
lish for  years  may  still  be  heard  sajdng  "I 
sink"  for  I  think,  and  ''zat"  for  that.  A  few 
minutes'  exercise  suffices  to  cure  this  defect. 

XV.— T  for  K. 

The  directions  given  on  page  41  for  the  cor- 
rection of  the  defect  "  i>  for  G^,"  apply  equally 
to  the  kindred   elements  t  and  Zc,  which  are. 
**  See  note,  page  46. 


52  THE   FAULTS    OF  8PEECIL 

merely  the  non- vocal  forms  of  d  and  g,     (See 
page  33.) 

The  unconscious  use  of  t  instead  of  c  (=»  A;) 
in  the  combination  cl  is  also  as  common  as  that 
ofdfovg.     Thus: 

tlay^  tlaw,  tlew,  tlaim^  tlever^  tlose. 
clay,  claw,  clew,  claim,  clever,  close. 

XVI.  —  Th  for  S. 

This  is  the  defect  commonly  called  "Lisp- 
ing." The  relation  between  th  and  s  is  the 
same  as  that  between  I  and  r.  The  breath 
escapes  by  a  central  aperture  for  s — as  for  r; 
and  by  lateral  apertures  for  th — as  for  I,  In 
forming  r  and  I  the  middle  of  the  tongue  is 
concave  and  the  point  sharply  raised  :  in  form- 
ing s  and  th  the  middle  of  the  tongue  is  con- 
vex, and  the  point  flattened  out.  The  central 
'^channel  for  s  is  over  the  top  of  the  point  of 
the  tongue ;  that  for  r  is  over  the  end  of  the 
tip.  The  lateral  apertures  for  th  are  between 
the  edges  of  the  point  of  the  tongue  and  the 
•teeth,  or  the  upper  gum ;  those  for  I  are  be- 
tween the  body  of  the  tongue  and  the  side,  or 
Iback,  teeth.     The  apertures  for  th  are  inter- 


OBOANIG  SUBSTITUTIONS,  53 

stitial,  and  so  cause  hissing  of  the  breath ; 
those  for  I  are  wide,  and  allow  the  voice  to- 
pass  with  vowel  purity.  The  I  channels  may^ 
however,  be  narrowed  so  as  to  produce  sibila- 
tion,  and  this  is  one  form  of  defective  substi- 
tution for  s.      (See  page  46.) 

Lisping  is  easily  cured.  But  some  persons 
affect  the  lisp  as  a  symbol  of  childish  artless- 
uess,  and,  like  Orlando  of  his  love-disease, 
"would  not  be  cured."  A  better  means  of 
displaying  simplicit}^  and  innocence  might  be 
suggested;  but 

*'(2e  giistihus  non  est  disputandum." 

The  correction  of  the  habit  of  lisping  will 
be  facilitated  at  first  b}^  mechanicall}^  prevent- 
ing the  tongue  from  touching  the  front  teeth. 
The  edge  of  a  paper-cutter  may  be  used  to 
push  back  the  tip  of  the  tongue. 

The  tongue  should  be  altogether  out  of  sight 
in  forming  s. 

XVIL—V for  Dlu 

The  remarks  on  "Ffor  TW  equally  apply 
to  these,  the  vocal  forms  of  the  same  articu- 
lations.    (See  page  43.) 


64  THE   FAULTS    OF   SPEECIL 

XVIIL—Vfor  Z. 

Tub  directions  on  page  43  apply  equally  to 
these  elements,  whieb  *^re  merely  vocal  forms 
of  /  and  s, 

XIX.^V  for  W  and  W  for  F. 

There  is  a  tendenc}'  to  confound  these  con- 
sonants when  the}'  occur  in  alternation,  a? 
manifested  in  the  Cockney's  "werry  veil"  for 
very  well. 

French  and  German  speakers,  whose  ver- 
nacular recognizes  no  sound  exactly  corre- 
sponding to  the  English  w^  pronounce  v  instead 
of  it.  The  French,  however,  use  the  true 
sound  of  w  in  pronouncing  their  diagraph  oi, 
as  in  soir^  boire,  oiseaux,  etc. 

The  German  w  has  the  same  labial  action  as 
the  English  element,  but  with  a  difference  in 
the  position  of  the  tongue,  which  is  advanced 
for  the  German  and  retracted  for  the  English  w. 

Foreigners  can  be  taught  the  knack  of  the 
English  element  perfectl3\  Imitation  is  obvi- 
ously worthless  for  their  direction.  Mechani- 
cal  assistance  will  overcome  the  difficult}'. 
Thus ;  sound  the  vowoi  oo  for  some  seconds 


ORGANIC  SUBSTITUTIONS,  55 

find  during  the  continuance  of  the  sound  gently 
approximate  the  centre  of  the  lips  with  the 
finger  and  thumb  a  number  of  times.  The 
vowel  00  will  be  changed  into  the  word 

woo^  tvoo,  woo,  woo,  woe, 

and  the  consonant  w  in  its  most  difficult  com- 
bination will  be  the  result. 

English  readers  ma}',  in  the  same  wa}^,  per- 
fectly acquire  the  knack  of  pronouncing  the 
Oerman  lu.  Thus  :  sound  the  vowel  ee  for 
some  seconds,  and  during  the  continuance  of 
the  sound  gently  approximate  the  centre  of  the 
lips  with  the  finger  and  thumb  a  number  of 
times.  The  vowel  will  be  changed  by  every 
action  into  a  true  German  pronunciation  of  the 
word 

wie^  wie,  wie,  wie,  wie. 

The  phonetic  resemblance  of  the  German  w 
to  the  English  v  will  be  recognized  in  this  ex- 
periment. The  articulative  actions  are,  how- 
ever, different,  and  the  English  student  of 
German  should  profit  by  the  lesson  and  dis- 
tinguish in  future  between  Enorlish  v  and  Ger- 


50  THE    FAULTS    OF    SPEECH. 

XX.— W  for  L. 

This  substitution  is  due  to  lingual  laziness- 
The  tongue  lolling  on  the  bed  of  the  jaw  sur- 
renders its  proper  functions  to  an}^  part  of  the 
organs  that  can  be  got  to  undertake  them.  In 
this  case  the  lips  are  obliging,  and  we  hear : 

"  Wet  the  wady  wait  a  wittoo." 
Let  the  lady  wait  a  little. 

The  existence  of  such  defects  is  a  disgrace. 
No  difficulty  attends  their  correction,  and  they 
should  never  have  quitted  the  nurser}'. 

XXI.— W  for  R. 

R  IS  the  most  difficult  of  all  the  consonant* 
for  children  to  learn,  and  it  is,  of  all  elements 
of  speech,  the  most  variously  pronounced  in 
languages  and  dialects  and  among  individual 
speakers.  When  the  r  is  trilled  —  as  in  Scot- 
land— the  sound  is  nearly  uniform,  but  the 
less  definite  varieties  heard  in  England  and 
America  differ  greatly.  The  American  r 
scarcely  uses  the  point  of  the  tongue  at  all, 
but  has  a  glide- sound  approximating  to  that 
of  ^,  while,  between  vowels,  the  r  is  modified 
by  the  lips,  as  in  '^ve^.'* 


OBGANIC    SUBSTITUTIONS.  57 

In  England  the  r — final  or  before  a  conso- 
nant—  has  the  vocality  of  a  vowel ;  and  even 
the  initial  r  has  little  of  the  frieativeness  of  a 
consonant. 

The  substitution  of  w  for  r  is  a  favourite 
dandyism  in  English  speech,  and  generally 
accompanies  the  aw  —  aw — aw  of 

^'Awistocwatic  dwawL" 
Aristocratic  drawl. 

Those  who  have  acquired  the  habit  of  using 
lu  for  r,  otherwise  than  as  an  affectation,  or  of 
mixing  the  sounds  of  iv  aud  r,  may  easih^  cure 
themselves  by  the  means  recommended  on 
page  43  for  the  delabialising  of  s,  namel}' : 
Hold  down  the  lower  lip  with  the  finger,  and 
see  the  teeth  while  pronouncing  7\ 

XXII.—  Wfor   Wh, 

Wh  IS  to  w  precisel}'  what /is  to  i?,  or  s  to 
z — the  non- vocal  form  of  the  same  articulative 
action.  Speakers  who  make  no  difference  be- 
tween these  elements  confound  ''whe}'"  with 
way,  "which"  with  witch,  "whale"  with  wail^ 
"whether"  with  weather;  and  put  their  hear 
era   to  unnecessary  trouble   to  unriddle  theii 


5b  THE    FAULTS    OF   SPEECIL 

ambiguities.  Refinement  consists  in  the  pre- 
servation of  nice  distinctions  ;  and  no  speaker 
with  any  pretensions  to  refinement  will  willing- 
ly forego  such  a  source  of  distinctiveness  as 
the  proper  pronunciation  of  these  and  all  ele- 
mentary sounds. 

Cockney  speech  has  no  wli. 


POSTSCKIPT 


SECOND    EDITION. 


POSTSCRIPT  TO  SECOND  EDITION. 


NEW  Edition  of  this  little  book  having 
been  called  for,  the  opportunit}'  is  pre- 
sented for  adding  any  further  observations  or 
directions  that  may  seem  necessary.  The  highly 
condensed  matter  in  these  pages  could  easily  be 
expanded  so  as  to  fill  a  volume ;  but  the  pre- 
cision of  the  Treatise  in  its  present  form  is 
one  of  ts  chief  recommendations  for  the  actual 
work  of  rectifying  the  "Faults  of  Speech." 
Some  little  peculiarity  in  the  action  of  a  single 
organ,  or  in  the  mode  of  pronouncing  a  single 
elementary  sound,  has  the  effect  of  rendering 
the  whole  of  speech  peculiar  ;  and  the  work  of 
coiTection  is  incredibly  simple  when  the  fault 
is  merely  traced  to  its  mechanical  cause.  The 
list  of  such  mechanical  causes  of  defects  in 
speech,  herein  contained,  is  not  only  extensive 
but  complete. 

61 


62  POSTSCRIPT, 

The  effect  of  ignorance  on  this  subject  i» 
often  serious  and  painful.  On  one  occasion  a 
gentleman  came  to  the  author  with  a  defect 
which  greatly  marred  his  whole  utterance,  yet. 
it  arose  simpl}"  from  the  habit  of  substituting 
nasal  for  oral  emission  in  forming  the  sibilant 
consonants  —  the  "fault"  described  in  Section 
XII,  page  49.  In  this  case  a  surgical  opera- 
ation  had  been  performed,  which  had  subjected 
the  patient  to  months  of  suffering,  while  the 
defect  arose  from  no  organic  malformation,  but 
merely  from  a  mechanical  habit  which  might 
have  been  checked  in  childhood,  as  it  was  per- 
fectl}^  checked  within  a  week  of  instruction. 

Stammerers  have  been  bewildered  more  than 
benefitted  b}^  the  theories  of  cause  and  cure  of 
their  impediment,  and  the  extensive  terminol- 
ogy given  to  its  man}^  varieties.  In  nearly  all  , 
cases,  the  source  of  difficulty  is  a  failure  in 
some  simple  principle  of  phonation  or  organic 
action,  to  which  alone  attention  requires  to  be 
directed.  The  chief  points  for  the  stammerer's 
consideration  and  exercise — whatever  peculiar- 
ity any  case  may  seem  to  present — will  be 
found  set  forth  in  the  preceding  pages.     Let 


POSTSCRIPT,  -      63^^ 

these  be  carefully  studied,  and  the  principles 
perseveringly  applied,  without  thought  of 
"consentaneous  nerve  actions"  or  any  other 
recondite  theories,  and  in  the  vast  majority  of 
cases  relief  will  be  certainly  attained. 

The  principles  of  vocal  respiration  are  all- 
important,  not  only  to  stammerers,  but  to  pub- 
lic speakers,  readers  and  singers.  Claims 
have  been  set  up  to  the  recent  discovery  of  the 
proper  function  of  the  diaphragm  in  breathing  ; 
but  this  ^'discovery"  will  be  found  fully  em- 
bodied in  the  Author's  I^ew  Elucidation  of 
the  Principles  of  Speech  and  Elocution^ 
published  in  1849.  The  simple  fundamental 
principles  of  breathing  cannot  be  too  clearly 
apprehended.  The  reader  is  referred  to  pages 
17-19  for  definite  instruction  on  this  subject. 

Teachers  who  undertake  the  rectification  of 
faults  of  speech  should  study  the  mechanism  of 
articulation  as  exhibited  in  the  symbols  of 
"Visible  Speech."  The  phonetic  elements  of 
languages,  and  their  mutual  relations,  are  so 
depicted  in  these  symbols  that  all  difficulty 
is  removed  from  this  otherwise  difficult  study. 
The  text  book  Sounds  and  their  Relations^  ex- 

10 


U  POSTSCRIPT. 

hibited  in  Visible  Speech^*  msLj  be  obtained 
through  any  bookseller.  The  Visible  Speech 
Reader ^■\  (adapted  for  children)  may  also  be 
used  with  advantage  to  facilitate  the  acquisi- 
tion of  English  sounds  by  teacher  or  pupil. 

A.  M.  B. 

We?t  Washington,  D.  C, 

October,  1883. 

*  Price  S2.00,  post-paid,  from  the  publisher  of  this  Work, 
t  Recently  issued  ;  price  40  cents. 


Note  to  Fourth  Edition. 

No  alterations  were  made  in  the  Third  Edition  of  this  work, 
published  in  1889;  nor  are  any  required  in  this  Fourth  Edition^ 
issued  under  the  auspices  of  the  Volta  Bureau.  The  little 
book  has  done  good  service  during  the  seventeen  years  since 
its  first  publication;  and  it  is  now  hopefully  committed  to  a 
new  generation  of  students. 

A.  M.  B. 
Washington,  D.  C, 
1525  35th  Street, 
Dec.  \st,  1897. 


Sounds  and  Their  Relations  Exhibited  in  Visible 
Speech  and  The  Visible  Speech  Reader  are  out  of  print. 
But  the  Volta  Bureau  offers  Visible  Speech  and  Vocal 
Physiology,  at  50  cents,  as  one  of  the  most  helpful 
of  A.  Melville  Bell's  works.     (See  page  72.) 


APPENDIX 


CONTAINING 


TABLES  AND  EXERCISES. 


APPENDIX. 


Table  of  Consonants, 

I  HE  following  table  contains  all  English 

elements,  and  others  referred  to  in  the 

preceding  page^. 


Oral. 


Nasal  Emission. 


non-vocal 

Oral         f^  • 
Obstruction  1  ,^ 


Central 
Emission 


vocal       non-vocal     vocal 

.     .     .    B  (Mh)   .     .     M 

.     .     .  B  Kh  .     .     .  N 

.     .     G  (Ngh).     .  Ng 
to  cool)  W  German. 
.     .     .    W 
Z 


(K.     . 

(Blowing 
Wh     . 
S      .     , 

Sh     .     .     .     ,      Zh « in  vision, 
(=  tsh)  as  in      t  _  ^^t, 
church,       J  -««'*• 


(Yh){       i,,,,. 
(Ch)  German.      Gh 


S  German  ch 


Y 


German  g  in  aug€\ 
emootb  burr. 


Lateral 
Emission 

Lax 

Vibration 


F    .    .     .     .     . 

Th  in  thin. 

Lb  Fr.  I  in  tahle. 


V 

Dh  th  in  then, 
L 


f  (Snarl.) 
t(Rb) 


(Burr.) 
R  trilled. 


67 


68                            APPENDIX. 

Table  of  Initial  Consonant  Combinations. 

Bl     .     as  in  blade 

Fr     .     as  in  fright 

Br  .     .     .     bride 

Fy  .     .     .     few 

Bw     .     .     .  buoy 

Vy     .     .     .  view 

By  .     .     .     beauty 

Thr      .     .     three 

ri .     .     .     .  place 

Thw  .     .     .  thwart 

Pr    .     .     .     price 

Thy     .     .      thews 

Py      .     .     .  pure 

SI      .     .     .  sleep 

Dr  .     .     .      draw 

Sm .     .     .      smile 

Dzh  .     .     .  jew 

Sn      ...  snarl 

Dw .     .     .     dwell 

Sf   .     .     .     sphere 

Dy     .     .     .  due 

Sp      .     .     .  spy 

Tr  .     .     .      try 

St   .     .     .     sty 

Tsb  .     .     .   chain 

Sk     .     .     .  sky 

Tw .     .     .     twelve 

Sw  .     .     .     sway 

T3'     .     .     .   tune 

S}^      ...  sue 

Gl   .     .     .     glad 

Shr       .     .      shrink 

Gr     .     .     .  great 

Spl     .     .     .  spleen 

Gw      .     .      guelph 

Spr .     .     .     spring 

Gy    .     .     .  gewgaw 

Sp3'   .     .     .  spume 

Kl  .     .     .     climb 

Str  .     .     .     straw 

Kr     .     .     .   crime 

Sty    .     .     .  stew 

Kw .     .     .     quite 

Ski     .     .      sclerotic 

Ky     .     .     .  cure 

Skr  .     .     .  screw 

lijy  .     .     .     muse 

Skw     .     .     squint 

2sy     .     .     .  new 

Sky  .     .     .  skewer 

Fl    .     .     .     flight 

APPENDIX. 


69 


Consonant  Exercises. 
For  rapid  reiteration. 


non-vocal. 
pata  patapa 
tapa  tapata 
paka  pakapa 
kapa  kapaka 
taka  takata 
kata  kataka 
pataka  pakata 
tapaka  takapa 
kapata  katapa 


pafa  pafapa 
fapa  fapafa 
fawha  fawhafa 
whafa  whafawha 
pawhafa  pafawha 
fapawha  fawhapa 
whapafa  whafapa 


fatha  falhafa 
thafa  thafatha 
thasa  thasatha 
satha  sathasa 
rsasha  sashasa 


shasa  shasasna 
thasha  thashatha 
sliatha  shatbasha 
thasasha  thashasa 
sathasha  sashatha 
sliasatha  shathasa 

vocal. 
bada  badaba 
daba  dabada 
baga  bagaba 
gaba  gabaga 
daga  dagada 
gada  gadaga 
bagada  badaga 
dabaga  dagaba 
gadaba  gabada 

bava  bavaba 
vaba  vabava 
bawa  bawaba 
waba  wabawa 
vawa  vawava 
wava  wavaw^ 
bawava  bavawa 


70 


APPENDIX. 


vabawa  vawaba 
vrabava  wavaba 


larana  lanara 
nalara  narala 


>^atha  vathava 
thava  thavatha 
thaza  thazatha 
zatha  zathaza 
vathaza  vazatha 
thavaza  thazava 
zavatha  zathava 


thazha  thazhatha 
zhatha  zhathazha 
zazha  zazhaza 
zhaza  zliazazha 
thazhaza  tliazazba 
zatbazha  zazhatha 
zbazatha  zbathaza 


rala  ralara 
lai-a  larala 
rana  ranara 
nara  narana 
lana  lanala 
nala  nalana 
ralana  ranala 


combinations. 
blabra  blabrabla 
brabla  brablabra 
plapra  plaprapla 
prapla  praplapra 
flafra  flafrafla 
frafla  fraflafra 
glagra  glagragla 
gragla  graglagra 
clacra  clacracla 
cracla  craclacra 
tbwaswa  thwaswathwa 
swathwa  swathwaswa 
thrasbra  tbrashratbra 
sbratbra  sbratbrashra 
slasna  slasnasla 
snasla  snaslasna 
tradra  tradratra 
dratra  dratradra 
cbaja  chajacba 
jacha  jacbaja 
spasfa  spasfaspa 
sfaspa  sfaspasfa 


APPENDIX. 


71 


staska  staskasta 
skasta  skastaska 


splaspra  splaspraspla 
spraspla  sprasplaspra 


Words  and  Sentences, 


Beef-broth. 

Three  sixths. 

Literally  literary. 

Knitting  needle. 

Quit  quickly. 

Such  a  sash. 

Puff  up  the  fop. 

A  velvet  weaver. 

A  cut  of  pumpkin. 

A  knapsack  strap. 

Coop  up  the  cook. 

A  school  coal-scuttle. 

Veal  and  white  wine  vinegar 

Geese  cackle  and  cattle  low. 

Cocks  crow  and  crows  caw. 

A  shocking  sottish  set 

She  sells  sea-shells. 


Cloud-capp'd. 
Laurel  wreath. 
Linen  lining. 
A  comic  mimic. 
Rural  railroad. 
Scotch  thatch. 
Statistics  of  sects. 
Portly  poultrj'. 
A  wet  white  wafer. 
Pick  pepper  peacock. 
I  snuff  shop  snuff. 


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